More Discussions for this daf
1. Just like fire cannot become Tamei... 2. Rashi mentions Keri'as ha'Torah instead of Keri'as Shema 3. Ba'al Keri
4. k'Tana'i 5. Ben Azai 6. Keri'as Shema recited b'Reses uv'Ze'ah
7. Leniency by Keri 8. Incontinence 9. Ba'al Keri and Birkas ha'Mazon
10. Takkanas Ezra 11. Urinating during the Amidah 12. Ba'al Keri
13. Ba'al Keri 14. ביטול תקנת עזרא 15. מכניס עצמו לאונס
DAF DISCUSSIONS - BERACHOS 22

jacob de leeuwe asked:

Honorable rabbi, I would like to pose a question concerning the gemara on berachos 22b: does the gemara here refer to somebody who is incontinent? And if this is the case I would suggest that a person who feels that the urine is coming that first he should clean and wash himself before finisching the amida. Do you know what is the halacha?

jacob de leeuwe, leeuwarden, the Netherlands

The Kollel replies (in ):

If by "incontinent" you mean someone who has a chronic loss of control of the bladder, then the answer is no. The Gemara seems to be referring to someone who normally has bladder control and when he started davening he had no reason to believe he would start urinating in the middle of his Tefilah. The Rema in a responsum (#98) deals with the case of someone that has chronic loss of control of the bladder and he rules that such a person is allowed to Daven even though he knows that he won't be able to get through the entire Tefilah without urinating (with the following conditions: that he not Daven at the moment that he is actually urinating, that he not start Davening if he has the urge to urinate, and that he wear some kind of absorbent cloth that will absorb whatever he releases) (his ruling is recorded by the Magen Avraham and the Mishnah Berurah 78:7).

The Halachah for the person who loses control of his bladder during Davening is brought down in the Shulchan Aruch (OC 78:1). The Halachah depends on whether the person is in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei or in the middle of Keri'as Shema. During Shemoneh Esrei, when the person should not move around, he is only required to wait until he finishes urinating. Only when he is actually urinating is there a Torah prohibition to Daven. Davening near a puddle of urine or when there is urine on one's clothes is only a Rabbinic prohibition. Since the person has already started his Shemoneh Esrei, the Chachamim did not require him to stop and clean himself off (Tosfos, Berachos 22b).

If the person is in the middle of Keri'as Shema (and certainly in other areas of the Davening other than Shemoneh Esrei) he is required to move away from the urine on the floor and to cover any clothing that got wet with a dry piece of clothing.

Kol Tuv,

Yonasan Sigler